While many non-Chinese know that Mandarin isn’t the only language in China, few understand the true diversity of language there. With roughly 1.4 billion people, China is home to ~18% of the world’s population. Put another way, nearly one in five humans alive call China home. In addition to its huge population, it’s hard to grasp the vastness of the country. Together with Russia, Canada, the US, Brazil, and Australia it is one of only six continent-scale (larger than 5 million square Km) countries. Even within this group China stands alone. In one sixth of the combined group’s land area it contains nearly twice as many people as the other continental countries combined.
With such a large area China includes tremendous natural diversity. Southeastern coastal regions experience tropical and subtropical climates with ample rain. Its borders include the highest mountains (Himalayas), some of the largest deserts (Taklamakan and portions of the Gobi), and extensive river systems (Yangtze, 3rd longest). While predated by the river civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, Chinese culture can trace its roots back more than 4,000 years. During those millennia, the Chinese contributed numerous firsts (paper, gunpowder, printing, etc.) and absorbed ideas and people from numerous cultures.
Mandarin the Official Language of China
Given all of that, it’s not surprising that there hundreds of living languages within China. It wasn’t until 1932 that the standard form of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect was selected as the national language. If you take a Mandarin class, this is the dialect you will learn allowing you to communicate with most of the population. Nearly 70% or the population speak a variant of Mandarin as their first language. However, regional differences remain.
Which of course brings us to our Map Monday feature courtesy of Wikipedia.
As always thanks for reading.
Armen
Note to pay the bills: The Misaligned series doesn’t feature any of the many Chinese languages. Rooted in the mythical origins of King Arthur, it does include dozens of words, phrases and names in Welsh. Does the intersection of ancient Welsh legends, modern String Theory, and the life of a 13 year-old girl in upstate NY pique your curiosity? If it does check out a summary of the series here or find links to purchase books here.